The Clemens Conference 2024
History of The Clemens Conference
The Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College launched an International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies in 1989. This became a quadrennial conference and continues today.
The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum offered its first international conference called The Clemens Conference in 2011, designed as a quadrennial conference so that a major Mark Twain conference would be offered every two years in odd-numbered years. Conferences were held in 2011, 2015, and 2019.
Covid complications resulted in the postponement of the Elmira conference from 2021 to 2022, and the Clemens Conference followed suit by moving from 2023 to 2024.
The Clemens Conference 2024
The Mark Twain Home Foundation in Hannibal, Missouri, will host its fourth quadrennial edition of The Clemens Conference Thursday through Saturday, August 1-2-3, 2024.
The conference will be in downtown Hannibal. Paper presentations will be at the Mark Twain Museum Gallery, 120 North Main Street. The Call for Papers is below.
Lodging and meals will be on your own. Hannibal has many overnight accommodation choices and a wide selection of restaurants. Lists for both will be available well in advance to aid your planning.
If you submit your name and e-mail address, you will be added to our mailing list to receive notifications as they are formalized.
Contact Henry Sweets at the Mark Twain Museum if you have any questions. henry.sweets@marktwainmuseum.org
Call For Papers
Abstracts for proposals are being accepted immediately through February 15, 2024. These should be e-mailed in Word format to Henry Sweets at henry.sweets@marktwainmuseum.org for review. Abstracts should be 500-750 words in length. Presenters will be limited to a 20-minute presentation at the conference.
The subject matter is wide open. Presentations are expected to address some topic related to Mark Twain, his life, or his works. Preference will be given to papers addressing Mark Twain in Hannibal, in Missouri, or on the Mississippi River.
In addition to the papers being presented, the conference will include visits to the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, touring Mark Twain Cave, and riding the Mark Twain Riverboat on a dinner cruise.
